I was mad at Flagstaff, Arizona, last time we were there. We only went because our first attempt at wild camping had failed miserably. As far as I was concerned, Flagstaff was an inferior Plan B to the grandeur of Sedona.

But time was kind to my memories of Flagstaff, and Eric never had a grudge like I did. So when it came time to plan our route for 2018, I gave Flagstaff another shot.

Good thing I did. Because after our two-week visit, I kinda think Flagstaff has made my Top 5 list of places we’ve stayed in four+ years of fulltime RVing.

The day we arrived in Flagstaff, our three older boys flew in for Spring Break. Eric drove to Phoenix to pick up Darius (20), Javen (17), and Silas (14). [Read more…]

When we plan our trips, we have a list of what we want to see. But since we only travel 250 miles every two weeks, there are always places we stop simply because they’re at the right place between Point A and Point B. Gallup, NM was one such means to an end.

When we decided to stay in Gallup on our way from Santa Rosa, NM to Flagstaff, AZ, I wasn’t exactly excited. It seemed like a small town on Route 66 with some hiking options, on the way to other places.

But when we made friends with some Albuquerque locals last week, some of them had negative things to say about Gallup. The kind of things that stick in your mind and cause your perspective to change. From that point on, I wasn’t expecting much out of Gallup.

We followed the sidewalk almost directly across from our site, heading straight toward the bathhouse. As we left the campground, turning a corner through the dry Texas brush, furry figures came to a halt a few yards in front of us. We squinted, trying to discern between mounds of sandy dirt and earth-colored animals. The yelping from the sentinels, a high-pitched bark that gives the prairie dog its name, told us exactly where to look.

We were within sight of the trailhead, coming back from a five and a half mile hike, which included a rigorous climb and descent. I couldn’t believe my eyes as I whisper-shouted, “Look!” to Eric. Blocking our exit, a bull bison stood munching the tall grass. He had spotted us, so we slowly created our own trail back to the Jeep.

Two stories of many from our week at Caprock Canyons State Park in the Texas Panhandle. This underrated state park is unlike any place we’ve stayed in more than four years of fulltime travel. To think it’s in our home state, and we had never been there before this month.

You’ll never stumble upon it. You have to know about it to find it. But once you do, you’ll be immersed in wildlife and red rock beauty. This is home to the Texas State Bison Herd, a group of about 100 animals that literally roam free around the entire state park, including through the campground and onto hiking trails. [Read more…]

I love staying organized and keeping records. But for some reason, I’ve had a hard time creating maps of our travels that make sense and look pretty. After three and half years of it bugging me, and me doing nothing about it, I finally sat down this month and created a color-coded Master Map of allllll our RV adventures, from when we started in February 2014 to now.

Brittany and I have been on an incredible adventure this year. Our faithful readers know we’ve been calling it our “Grand Loop Trip.” For those new to our blog, welcome!

We started from Austin, Texas and we’re currently making our way up to Seattle to visit family for the summer.

We found fallen and falling snow only an hour away from Redding at Lassen Volcanic National Park

We like to keep our trips between spots really short. Really short! We typically travel 250 miles every two weeks. So it takes us a long time to get anywhere but, we get to discover little gems we’d never otherwise find. We know other full-time RVers can relate to this.

However, short trips between spots doesn’t mean that we stay just anywhere. On the contrary! Since we’re staying for two weeks at each stop, and quite often in a small town, we take our time choosing each destination carefully.

So, when we were doing our research into places to stay along the I-5 corridor in northern California, we were happy to find the easily accessible Premier RV Resorts Campground in Redding, CA. [Read more…]

After an extremely long two days of driving through West Texas, we crossed the New Mexico border and arrived in Las Cruces, NM. There wasn’t any outstanding reason we chose Las Cruces, other than the fact that it was a good fit for our overall route.

Our week there was laid-back and low-key. We’re saving up for an international trip later this month, so we mostly ate at home and avoided tourist traps (confession: we’re sometimes susceptible to tourist traps). Despite the slower pace, we definitely enjoyed our visit. Here are the things we recommend, based on our experience in Las Cruces! [Read more…]

We always promise to be transparent on our blog and share the good, the bad and the ugly. Well, you’re going to get all three in this review. If you’ve read our other reviews, you’ll know we do our best to tell it just like it is, and that’s exactly what you’re about to read.

We had never been to a Jellystone Park before. But we’d heard good things from fellow RVers with kids, so we were hopeful as we booked our stay at Jellystone Park Nashville for Spring Break 2015. We even found a 50% off coupon by joining their text club, so we went the whole nine yards and booked a premium site.

We ended up having a great time with the boys in the Nashville area. Unfortunately, that had very little to do with the park itself.

Brittany and I typically travel only ~250 miles every time we move our behemoth RV. There are many reasons for this. Mostly it’s about safety, exploration and rest.

But sometimes, on rare occasions, we break our own rule. Whenever we do, it has to be for a good reason…actually, a spectacular one.

Our original plan was to go from Austin, TX to Mount Pleasant, TX – a distance of 313 miles – and stay for a week. Friends of ours suggested we push further, claiming the push would be worth it. They suggested Hot Springs, AR.

We looked at the map, but it was a 492 mile trek to Hot Springs. Yuck. That would typically mean two full days of travel for us.

In order to even consider it, we’d have to be really impressed with the local area, and we’d want to find an RV park that was outstanding.

But the journey started 13 days and 444 miles earlier, south of that point in Natchez, MS where the Trace begins.

Natchez, MS along the banks of the Mighty Mississippi River

We only drive on the weekends, since we do client work from Meriwether during the week. So we needed a place to stay for the week before we began the journey up the Parkway. After looking around at our options, we landed on Natchez State Park.

When given a choice (meaning it has good Internet connectivity and sites large enough for Meriwether), we’ll always choose a National, State or County park. They are treasures of our country. [Read more…]

Hmm…let’s see. Texas Rangers baseball, Six Flags Over Texas Amusement Park, the International Bowling Hall of Fame, Headquarters of American Mensa…should I go on?

Ok, all you Mensa people already knew this, but Arlington is a perfect “base camp” if you want to visit anything in Forth Worth or Dallas. It sits pretty close to the midway point between the two cities.

And Treetops Carefree RV Resort in Arlington sits just off I-20, which is perfect for RVers wanting to go to all of the above and have an easy escape route from the Metroplex. [Read more…]

Travel Map: 2014-2018

States We’ve Visited with Meriwether

First Time Here? Get to Know Us!

Welcome to RV Wanderlust! We're Eric and Brittany Highland and we're on a pretty amazing adventure.
As of 2018, we're starting our fifth year as fulltime RVers and we've been transparently documenting the journey all along the way. In December 2016 we … Keep reading